The world looks very different at night. Get behind the wheel of a car, and you’ll quickly notice the limitations of human eyesight: In low or no light, we struggle to identify objects. We become reliant on street lights (if there are any). We are blinded by headlights and have a tendency to “overrun” them,…
For over a century, organizations like SAE International (formerly, the Society of Automobile Engineers), have existed to provide the automotive industry with safety standards and best practices. The logic behind SAE is simple, and vital: vehicles, when manufactured incorrectly, can pose a serious threat—so let’s ensure that anyone building them does so in a way…
“They came out of nowhere!” You’ve probably heard this phrase uttered while riding in a car (maybe you’ve even said it yourself) if another vehicle, pedestrian, or bicyclist appears suddenly in front of your vehicle without warning. Safe drivers will react by slowing, stopping, or moving their car appropriately to avoid contact with the fellow…
Driving in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, can sometimes feel like trying to thread a needle. The “Steel City” is filled with numerous narrow streets, often on steep hills, that offer limited space for vehicles creating many instances in which drivers must negotiate with one another. They may signal one another with their cars’ headlights, hand gestures, and…
In order for self-driving cars to integrate smoothly with other people and vehicles on the roads, they must do more than drive intelligently and safely: they must also drive naturalistically, like an experienced local driver. In this Watch and Learn article, Constantin Savtchenko, a Senior Staff Engineer at self-driving technology company Argo AI, takes us through a video of an…
Throughout its history, the nearly 142-year-old nonprofit organization League of American Bicyclists has advocated for the safety of the nation’s cyclists. “There’s so much conflict on our roadways,” says Ken McLeod, policy director at the League of American Bicyclists, “A lot of that is because of the way our roadways are designed, but also because of how…